Packing case especially for transporting heavy goods



Sept g 6 PACKING CASE ESPECIALLY FOR TRANSPORTING HEAVY GOODS Filed May18, 1964 R m w W United States Patent 8 Claims. (:1. 229-23 The presentinvention relates to a composable packing box or case suitable to bepiled with many other similar boxes, especially for the transportationof heavy goods.

An object of the invention is to solve in an economical way the problemof packing products and in particular heavy products, which at presenthave to be packed into cases made of Wood or of some other expensivematerial,

by primarily using paper or cardboard material or some other cheaplaminated material which is going to be suitably reinforced.

Another main object of the invention consists in that the packing boxesof the invention may be easily assembled into their final form, whilefor the transportation of the empty boxes, these may be transformed intoa sheet and superposed to each other.

Another object of the invention consists in that the boxes or cases maybe easily assembled just before their utilization, said assemblingoperation being very simple and rapid and not requiring any trainedperson, as it will be explained hereinafter.

These and other objects will be attained by the cases according to thepresent invention which substantially consists in that it comprises atleast one sheet of foldable material which is suitably sheared andprovided with bending lines to be assembled into a parallelepiped box,said sheet including a central rectangular bottom surface with a hole ateach corner, first appendant portions extending from each side of saidbottom surface and adapted to be bent at right angle thereto, secondappendant portions extending from said first appendant portions having ahole at each of their corners, and being adapted to be bent parallellyto the bottom surface inwardly With respect to the box and at rightangle to the first appendant portions, four angle rods with a blind holeaxially extending from each of their base, and four connecting members,said angle rods being intended to be placed with their axisperpendicular to the central bottom surface and, with their lower blindholes in register with the holes thereof and, upon binding of said firstand said second appendant portions, with part of their side walls incontact with said appendant portions, whereby the upper blind holes ofeach angle rod and the holes of the second appendant portions, which arebent to cover the upper surface of said angle rods, are brought inreciprocal register relation to be in a position to receive said fourconnecting members which penetrate therein for holding together thedifferent components of the box, each of said connecting memberscomprising a pin, a flange like spacer body and a tapered extensionprojecting from said spacer body in a direction opposite to the one ofthe pin, the holes of the bottom surface and the lower blind holes ofthe relative angle rods located thereupon being adapted to be engaged bythe tapered extensions of the connecting members belonging to the boxsituated below in the pile of boxes.

Although the angle rods are connected with the cardboard box onlythrough said second appendant portions at the boxs side opposite to thebottom surface, said boxes are additionally stabilized during the pilingby having the lower holes at each corner of the bottom surface engagedby the extensions of the connecting members of the box below which alsoenter into the lower blind holes provided in the angle rods of thesuperposed box, thereby making the piles of boxes very stable.

3,270,943 Patented Sept. 6, 1966 It results that the packing boxes ofthe invention are very Well suited to be piled upon each other and to betransported with large transport means since the larger is the number ofpiled boxes the stronger becomes the structure of each single box.

In virtue of the fact that the angle rods are made of rigid material andhave a considerable resistance to compressive stress, the boxes of theinvention are capable of sustaining much higher loads than theconventional boxes.

The invention will be described hereinafter by referring to anembodiment which has been illustrated by way of example only in theaccompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a packing box of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section along the line 2-2 through an angle rodassembled in a box identical to the one shown in FIG. 1, said box beingplaced on an identical box;

FIG. 3 is a view in a reduced scale of the surface development of thelaminated cardboard to be formed into the packing box of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a box corner with the angle rod mountedand the connecting member ready for entering the angle rod hole;

FIGS. 5 and 6 show in a perspective view the lower part of the box;

FIG. 7 represents a different way of forming the box by means of tworectangular sheets crossing each other. This form has the advantage ofgiving a double bottom and avoiding swarfs of material of the concavecorners.

With reference to the accompanying drawing, the laminated sheet A e.g.of cardboard material is shown in combination with the rigid angle rodsB and with the connecting members C.

The sheet A, as shown in FIG. 3, is sheared hard paper or cardboardsurface provided with bending lines and capable of assuming upon bendingof its sides, the shape of a parallelepiped box. In particular, saidsheet consists of a central bottom surface 1 and of two pairs of firstappendant portions 22 and 3-3 forming the lateral walls of the box whichare respectively connected to the central bottom surface 1 by means ofthe bending lines 2a and 311. Second appendant portions 2' and 3' extendfrom said first appendant portions 2 and 3 and serve to secure the anglerods B to the box (as shown in FIG. 1) and contemporaneously as ribs forthe crosswise stiffening of the box walls.

A cover portion of the box could be formed by having at least one of thesecond appendant portions 2 and 3' extend for a larger amount than theother ones forming a lid 3" to cover the upper box opening.

The angle rods B (FIG. 4) are right prisms with triangular basepreferably made of wood. They may be made of other material as well aslong as it is rigid and resistant to compressive stresses.

Said angle rods may have a quadrilateral base or a circular one, in anycase they have two blind holes 4-4 axially projecting from their lowerand upper base surface.

The sheet A is provided with holes 5, one at each corner of the bottomsurface 1, With holes 6, one at each lateral end of the second appendantportions 2, and with holes 7 one at each side corner of the secondappendant portions 3.

Each connecting member C comprises a pin 8 which may be of a cylindricalform or any other suitable shape -at head 9 and a tapered extension 8'which, in assembled 3 in one corner of the central bottom surface 1 withits longitudinal axis perpendicular thereto and with its lower blindhole 4 in register with the hole of the bottom surface, then the firstappendant portions 2 and 3 are bent along the bending lines 2a and 3::at right angle to said central bottom surface, whereafter the secondappendant portions 2' and 3' are bent inwardly with respect to the boxand at right angle to said first appendant portions 2 and 3. The cornerportions of said second appendant portions 3' and 2' are superposed twoby two and cover the upper surface of the angle rod B (FIG. 4) so thattheir holes 6 and 6 are brought in register with the upper hole 4 of theangle rod B. Thereafter the pin 8 of the connecting member C is pressedinto said holes, this operation having to be carried out at all fourcorners.

In the piling phase, the head portion 8' of the connecting memberprojecting upwards from the flange-like spacer body 9, penetrates intothe hole 5 of the central bottom surface 1 of the box placed immediatelyabove and then in the corresponding holes 4' the lower base of the anglerod B, thereby securing the lower bottom surface 1 of sheet A to theangle rod B.

As it clearly results from the foregoing, the piling of a large numberof boxes improves the connection properties of the pile of boxes whichis the more stable the larger is the weight upon each box.

This is a very desirable feature since it is just in their piled-upstate that the boxes, being subjected to the largest loads andespecially to the largest perpendicular stresses, must be very firmlyconnected to each other.

While in FIG. 3 there is shown a unique sheared sheet used to form thebox according to the invention, said box may be also made up of twocross-wise superposed sheets with holes 5 in register with each other.The resulting box having a double bottom surface is stronger and moreresistant than the boxes made of only one sheet. In the case of boxesmade of two superposed sheets there would be no discarded material atthe four corner sections. If corrugated cardboard is used, the directionof corrugations in the two superposed sheets are preferably at rightangle to each other to attain a further reinforcing effect. When twosuperposed sheets are used one of said sheets may have openings cuttherein with the same section as the angle rods, said opening beingadapted to receive the base portion of said angle rods to stabilize sameduring the assembling operation and piling.

The extensions pins 8 of the connection members are preferably oftapered conical shape and extend for a short amount. They merely serveas centering means for the piled up boxes. In the embodiment of FIG. 3it Will not be necessary to completely out out the disc corresponding tothe hole 5, but it will sufiice to cut it partially and push it into thehole 4' of the angle rod B to consent the engagement of the extension 8of the lower box with the hole 4' of the angle rod B relative to the boximmediately above, whereby the bottom surface of the box above issecured to its respective angle rod B.

What is claimed is:

1. Composable packing box suitable to be stacked with many other similarboxes in particular for the transportation of heavy goods comprising atleast one blank of foldable material which is suitably sheared andprovided with bending lines to be formed into a parallelepiped box, saidblank including a central rectangular bottom surface with a hole at eachcorner, first appendant portions extending from each side of saidrectangular bottom surface and adapted to be bent at right anglethereto, second appendant portions with a hole at each corner of theirlateral ends, said second appendant portions extending from said firstappendant portions and being adapted to be bent parallelly to the bottomsurface inwardly with respect to the box and at right angle to saidfirst appendant portions, further four angle rods with a blind holeaxially extending from each of their base, and four connecting members,said angle rods being placed on the central bottom surface with theiraxis perpendicular thereto, with their lower blind holes in registerwith the holes thereof and, upon bending of said first and secondappendant portions, with part of their surface in contact with saidappendant portions, whereby the upper blind holes of each angle rod andthe holes of the second appendant portions, which are bent to cover theupper surface of said angle rods, are brought in reciprocal registerrelation to be in a position to receive said four connecting memberspenetrating therein for holding together the different components of thebox, each of said connecting members comprising a pin, a flange-likespacer body and a tapered extension projecting from said spacer body ina direction opposite to the one of the pin, the holes of the bottomsurface and the lower blind holes of the relative angle rods restingthereupon being adapted to be engaged by the tapered extensions of theconnecting members of an adjacent box positioned below.

2. The box as claimed in claim 1; wherein the angle rods have the shapeof prisms with triangular base.

3. The box as claimed in claim 1 wherein the angle rods aresubstantially of cylindrical shape.

4. The box as claimed in claim 1 wherein the connecting members aremaintained by friction into their assembled position.

5. The box as claimed in claim 1,'wherein said box is formed with twocrosswise superposed blanks.

6. The box as claimed in claim 5, wherein the bottom surface of theinner blank has four openings cut therein with the same cross section asthe angle rods, the base of said angle rods being adapted to be receivedinto said openings during the assembling phase of the box.

7. The box as claimed in claim 1, wherein the holes in the bottomsurface of the box are provided by only cutting a part of the holesperimeter so that the remaining portion of the material will partiallyenter the lower hole of the angle rod.

8. The box as claimed in claim 1, wherein one of said second appendantportions is extending for a longer amount to cover the upper surface ofthe box as a lid.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,301,136 2/1943Wingen 229-49 2,961,139 11/1960 Nobili 2296 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,219,6315/1960 France.

JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

R. PESHOCK, Assistant Examiner.

1. COMPOSABLE PACKING BOX SUITABLE TO BE STACKED WITH MANY OTHER SIMILARBOXES IN PARTICULAR FOR THE TRANSPORTATION OF HEAVY GOODS COMPRISING ATLEAST ONE BLANK OF FOLDABLE MATERIAL WHICH IS SUITABLY SHEARED ANDPROVIDED WITH BENDING LINES TO BE FORMED INTO A PARALLELEPIPED BOX, SAIDBLANK INCLUDING A CENTRAL RECTANGULAR BOTTOM SURFACE WITH A HOLE AT EACHCORNER, FIRST APPENDANT PORTIONS EXTENDING FROM EACH SIDE OF SAIDRECTANGULAR BOTTOM SURFACE AND ADAPTED TO BE BENT AT RIGHT ANGLETHERETO, SECOND APPENDANT PORTIONS WITH A HOLE AT EACH CORNER OF THEIRLATERAL ENDS, SAID SECOND APPENDANT PORTIONS EXTENDING FROM SAID FIRSTAPPENDANT PORTIONS AND BEING ADAPTED TO BE BENT PARALLELLY TO THE BOTTOMSURFACE INWARDLY WITH RESPECT TO THE BOX AND AT RIGHT ANGLE TO SAIDFIRST APPENDANT PORTIONS, FURTHER FOUR ANGLE RODS WITH A BLIND HOLEAXIALLY EXTENDING FROM EACH OF THEIR BASE, AND FOUR CONNECTING MEMBERS,SAID ANGLE RODS BEING PLACED ON THE CENTRAL BOTTOM SURFACE WITH THEIRAXIS PERPENDICULAR THERETO, WITH THEIR LOWER BLIND HOLES IN REGISTERWITH THE HOLES THEREOF, AND UPON BENDING OF SAID FIRST AND SECONDAPPENDANT PORTIONS, WITH PART OF THEIR SURFACE IN CONTACT WITH SAIDAPPENDANT PORTIONS, WHEREBY THE UPPER BLIND HOLES OF EACH ANGLE ROD ANDTHE HOLES OF THE SECOND APPENDANT PORTIONS, WHICH ARE BENT TO COVER THEUPPER SURFACE OF SAID ANGLE RODS, ARE BROUGHT IN RECIPROCAL REGISTERRELATION TO BE IN A POSITION TO RECEIVE SAID FOUR CONNECTING MEMBERSPENETRATING THEREIN FOR HOLDING TOGETHER THE DIFFERENT COMPONENTS OF THEBOX, EACH OF SAID CONNECTING MEMBERS COMPRISING A PIN, A FLANGE-LIKESPACER BODY AND A TAPERED EXTENSION PROJECTING FROM SAID SPACER BODY INA DIRECTION OPPOSITE TO THE ONE OF THE PIN, THE HOLES OF THE BOTTOMSURFACE AND THE LOWER BLIND HOLES OF THE RELATIVE ANGLE RODS RESTINGTHEREUPON BEING ADAPTED TO BE ENGAGED BY THE TAPERED EXTENSIONS OF THECONNECTING MEMBERS OF AN ADJACENT BOX POSITIONED BELOW.